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Some Pa. home care workers unpaid after 2 months

The Associated Press

Updated:
03/05/2013 01:38:37 PM EST

HARRISBURG, Pa.—The acting secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Public Welfare says hundreds of the state-paid care workers for the disabled still haven't received paychecks after a new company took over the task in January.

Acting Secretary Bev Mackereth told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday her agency is trying to figure out what happened and acknowledged the transition didn't go smoothly for 4 percent of the workers.

She also welcomed a promised audit by Auditor General Eugene DePasquale of the transition to Boston-based Public Partnerships LLC. Previously, 37 local groups had processed the pay for about 22,000 care workers.

Advocates initially complained many workers received late paychecks or none at all. Mackereth says the contract with Public Partnerships provided no savings, but the federal government had insisted the process be streamlined.